Carton



ct- 1969 J. MURPHY ETAL 3,473,694

CARTON Original Filed March 28, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 28 *r l i FIG. 1 I l INVENTORS JAMES A. MURPHY CECIL H. WATKINS [RI/ESTJAMES DEWHURST CARL ENGEL BY W61 A TTORNEYS Oct. 21, 1969 J. A. MURF HY ETAL. I 3,473,594

CARTON Original Filed March 28, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 4 FIG. 5

3 2. mum/mes JAMES A. MURPHY cam. 11. wnrxms Fl G. 6 ERNESZJAMES oswuunsr am man.

ATTORNEYS 3,473,694 CARTON ames A. Murphy, Tor-onto, Cecil H. Watkins, Mimico, and Ernest James Dewhurst and Carl Engei, Toronto, Untario, Jansda, assignors, by niesne assignments, to tjanadian international Paper Company, Mentreal, Quebec, Canada Continuation of application Ser, No. 537,882, Mar. 28, 1966. This application Aug. 25, I967, Ser. No. 663,448 int. Ci. B65h 1/08 US. Cl. 221-63 5 Claims ABSTRACT (1F THE DISCLOSURE A carton for tissues having a hinged dispensing flap of hardboard that is stressed to force its free end against a pile of tissues in the carton by folding the flap upon itself and through more than 90.

Ser.

This application is a continuation of application No. 537,882, filed Mar. 28, 1966, now abandoned.

This invention relates to a dispensing carton for bifolded tissues, such as paper facial tissues, paper napkins, paper towels, crepe paper sheets, etc.

It is a common practice to package facial and like tissues in cartons made of paperboard and having an opening in the top wall thereof through which the tissues in the carton can be drawn one at a time. Commonly the tissues are arranged in bifolded arrangement in the carton. The top tissue is pulled through the dispensing opening in the top of the carton, and as it is so pulled it, by reason of its interleaved relation with the next lower tissue, drags the next lower tissue with it out of the dispensing opening. Further pulling of the top tissue separates the two but leaves the second tissue with its leading edge exposed out of the dispensing opening of the carton in readiness to be taken next. The method of packaging and its use is extremely well known and further reference to it will not be made at this time.

It has been found that there is a limit to the depth of the carton that can be used with such a dispensing system. As the depth of the carton is increased, the height that the tissue being withdrawn must raise the following tissue to pull its leading edge through the dispensing opening for following use becomes too great as the carton becomes empty. If the height that a tissue must be raised is too great, the tissue being withdrawn parts from the next one beneath it before the leading edge of the latter has been pulled through the opening for ready use. In such a case, it is necessary to fish into the box to get the next tissue. This is inconvenient and often results in a tearing of the box. Once this happens, the dispensing features of the box are destroyed and inconvenience to the user results. In many cases waste is involved because the user cannot conveniently dispense one tissue at a time.

Attempts to package tissues in deeper boxes that will work satisfactorily have involved the formation of a large opening in the top of the box through which the user merely picks the top tissue from the pile without the automatic dispensing feature wherein the leading edge of the top tissue is automatically presented to the user. This method is not as convenient and in addition necessitates the cutting away of a large portion of the top of the box, with the result that a good display advertising area is lost to the manufacturer of the tissue.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a carton for dispensing a stack of bifolded tissues one at a time that is suitable for packaging tissues in substantially deeper stacks than has previously been the practice.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a disnite States Patent 0 pensing carton for bifolded tissues having a small dispensing opening whereby to leave the major portion of the top wall of the carton available for display advertising.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a carton that is economical to manufacture.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a disensing carton for a stack of bifolded tissues in which the shape of the dispensing opening is not critical to satisfactory operation.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 shows a carton blank from which a carton according to the invention is formed and a portion of an adjoining blank to illustrate the manner in which they are cut;

FIGURE 2 shows a carton according to this invention partly assembled;

FIGURE 3 shows a cross section of a carton according to the invention in set up position substantially full of tissue;

FIGURE 4 shows a section through a carton with only a few tissues at the bottom;

FIGURE 5 is a view along the line 55 of FIGURE 4, and

FIGURE 6 is a partial sectional view showing a double serving flap means.

Referring first to FIGURE 1 and the blanks from which the carton illustrated is formed, the carton comprises a blank made from hard board die cut in the usual manner and formed with fold lines in the usual manner to define a top wall 10, a first side wall 12, a bottom wall 14, a second side wall 16, a side-to-top wall adhesive tab 18 and end wall flaps 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32 and 34 hinged to the aforesaid top, bottom and side walls to form the end walls of the carton, as will be apparent later.

A base 36 is formed integrally with the side-to-top wall adhesive tab 18 and it has a serving flap 38 hinged to it along the fold line 46. A second adhesive tab 19 extends from the other side of the base 36. Serving flap 38 is formed with a serving hole 39 through which a sheet of tissue can be drawn and/ or retained in use, as will be referred to later. The serving flap 38 is adapted to be folded back against the base 36 to which it is connected along line 40 through an angle of more than 90 as shown and, in this connection, the hard board at the outer edge of the fold the is stressed in tension and, as it tends to reassert itself, gives a spring force to the serving flap 38 that tends to extend it away from the base 36 and towards the bottom 14 of the container when the container is set up in use, as will be apparent later.

It will be noted that the hard board at the outside portion of the fold line 40, where tension occurs due to the folding, should not be unduly weakened by cutting lest the tendency of the serving flap 38 to spring away from its base 36 when folded thereagainst is destroyed.

It will be noted that the top wall 10 is formed with a dispensing opening that has a dispensing opening cover 46 delineated by a continuous preformed line, that can be broken away to remove the cover 46' in use.

The blank illustrated in FIGURE 1 of the drawings is initially set up by adhesively securing the adhesive tabs 18 and 19 to the opposed inside marginal edge portions of the top wall 10. The container is normally shipped in knock-down flat form in this condition.

In use and for the purpose of dispensing soft facial type tissues, it is set up and the end walls are closed and adhesively secure. The carton is loaded with stacked interleaved bifolded tissues through the end wall formed by end wall flaps 20, 22, 24 and 26 during setting up. It will be noted that prior to filling, the serving flap 38 is folded against the base 36 from which it extends and that it is maintained in juxtaposed relation with the under- 3 side of the top wall by the stack of tissues, as illustrated in FIGURE 3.

The stack of interleaved bifolded tissues which comprise the contents of the container are removable one by one from the container through the dispensing opening formed by removing the cover 46. The cover 46' is removed by breaking the perforated outline thereof. Once this is done, one merely pokes through the dispensing opening left by removal of the cover and through the serving hole 39 in the serving flap 38 to grip the top tissue and pull it through the aligned serving hole 39 in the serving flap 38 and dispensing opening formed by removing cover 46'. As the leading edge 47 of the top tissue is withdrawn from the interleaved stack, its trailing edge 49 pulls the leading edge 51 of the next following tissue through the serving hole 39 and aligned dispensing opening 46 and leaves it in this position, which was in fact the position occupied by the tissue withdrawn prior to removal. Serving hole 39 has a size that is adapted to frictionally retain the leading edge of a tissue drawn through it as aforesaid.

As the pile of tissues is reduced, the force occasioned by the tensioned fibres at the fold line 40 of the serving fiap 38 urge the free end of the serving flap to follow the reducing pile of tissues on the bottom of the box, as illustrated in FIGURES 4 and 5. Thus, the hole 39, through which the tissues are served, is always close to the top of the pile of tissues remaining, with the result that the tissue being withdrawn is always able to pull with it the leading edge of the next following tissue through the opening 39 from which it can always be readily grasped for removal through the dispensing opening 46 in the top wall 10.

It will be noted that the opening 46 in the top wall 10 is relatively small and that its design need not be dictated by any requirement to grip a tissue for subsequent removal because the gripping function is done by the serving hole 39 in the serving flap 38. Dispensing opening 46 need only be large enough to grip the edge of a tissue being presented by the opening 46. Two practical advantages flow from this. The opening 46 can be in the form of a users logogram or trademark and the major portion of the top 10 of the carton is available for display purposes.

It will also be noted that the base 36 from which the serving flap extends can conveniently be located about half way across the edge of the tab 18, with the result that the blanks can be die cut from a large piece of hardboard in internesting fashion, as illustrated in FIGURE 1 of the drawings. Thus, the arrangement is very eflicient in respect of cardboard use. The carton illustrated has a length of 9 inches, a width of 4 inches and a depth of 3 /2 inches.

In cases where an extraordinarily deep carton is desired, a series of hinged serving flaps can form the serving flap means above described. Such an arrangement is illustrated in FIGURE 6, which is a partial sectional view of a carton similar to the carton of FIGURES 1 to 5, with the exception that it is deeper. It has a top wall 110 and a dispensing flap means comprising serving flaps 138 and 238, each formed with a serving hole 139, and 239 respectively adapted to serve tissues from the top of a stack through opening 140 as the top tissue is pulled from the opening. In this case adjacent tissues pass from serving hole 239 to serving hole 139 without separating from each other. The tension of the hinged flaps tends to urge the free end of the flap 238 against the pile of tissues as before. Where the depth of the carton is more than 4 inches, a second dispensing flap is desirable. In still greater depths, more than two flaps can be used.

The serving holes 39, 139 and 239 are of a size that is adapted to gather a tissue as it is drawn therethrough, whereby the trailing edge of a lead tissue being withdrawn i gathered together with the leading edge of the next following tissue and the leading edge of the said next following tissue extends through the opening before the trailing edge of the lead tissue separates therefrom. The

general principles of serving hole design for interleaved tissue products are well known since it has been practice to form them in carton top wall for many years. While the drawings illustrate the invention as applied to facial tissues, it will be appreciated that packages according to the invention can be used for tissues for other purposes, such as paper napkins, paper towels, crepe paper sheets, etc.

We claim:

1. A dispensing carton for a stack of tissues, said carton being formed from a single sheet of paperboard and comprising top, bottom, side and end walls hinged together and an additional flap hinged from one of said walls, said top wall being formed with a dispensing opening for tissues, said additional flap being folded along its hinge connection with said one wall so as to underly said top wall, a base portion of said additional flap being affixed to the under surface of said top wall, said additional flap having a serving flap portion hingedly connected to the remainder of said additional flap along a fold line in said base portion, said serving flap portion being formed with a serving hole underlying said dispensing opening, said serving flap portion being hinged about said fold line at an angle greater than with respect to sai dbase portion to stress said paperboard in tension at said fold line whereby the paperboard at said fold line acts as a spring continuously urging the free end of said serving flap toward said bottom wall.

2. A dispensing carton as set forth in claim 1 in which said top wall, a first one of said side walls, said bottom wall and a second one of said side walls are hinged together in serial arrangement and in which said additional flap is hingedly connected to the free edge of one of said serially connected walls, said fold line extending transversely across the under surface of said top wall.

3. A dispensing carton as set forth in claim 2 in which said base portion is adhesively afiixed to the under surface of said top wall adjacent opposite ends of said fold line.

4. A blank of paperboard for forming a carton comprising a top wall, a first side wall, a bottom wall and a second side wall hinged together in serial arrangement, tab means carried by one of said walls for adhesive connection to said top wall in a set up carton, flaps carried by at least some of said walls to form end walls in a set up carton, a base carried by said tab and adapted to lie in juxtaposed relation to said top wall when said carton is set up, a serving flap hinged to said base along a fold line that extends transversely of said top wall in use, said serving flap being adapted to fold along said fold line with respect of said tab through more than 90 in use and having a length which will dispose the free end thereof when folded as aforesaid against the said bottom wall of said carton when said carton is set up, said paperboard being adapted to be stressed at said fold line when folded as aforesaid through more than 90, said paperboard having a strength such that said stress at said fold line constitutes a spring means that urges the said free end of said flaps into contact with the bottom wall of said carton when said carton is in a set up position, said top wall being formed with a dispensing opening, said serving flap being adapted to underly said dispensing opening when said carton is set up and being formed with a serving hole through which a tissue can be drawn from a stack in said set up carton.

5. A dispensing carton for a stack of tissues, said carton being formed from a single sheet of paperboard and comprising top, bottom, side and end walls hinged together and an additional flap hinged from one of said walls, said top wall being formed with a dispensing opening for tissues, said additional flap being folded along its hinge connection with said one wall so as to underly said top wall, a base portion of said additional flap being aifixed to the under surface of said top wall, said additional flap having a serving flap portion hingedly connected to the remainder of said additional flap along a fold line in said base portion, said serving flap portion being hinged about said fold line at an angle greater than 90 with respect to said base portion to stress said paperboard in tension at said fold line whereby the paperboard at said fold line acts as a spring continuously urging the free end of said serving flap toward said bottom wall, said serving flap portion being divided into an upper section and a lower section joined together along an additional fold line in said paperboard, said lower section being hingedly connected to said upper section along said additional fold line and at an angle greater than 90 with respect to said upper section whereby the paperboard at said additional fold line acts as an additional spring continuously urging the free end of said lower section toward said bottom wall, said upper section and said lower section each having a serving hole underlying said dispensing opening.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,638,211 5/1953 Spurr 22l60 0 WALTER SOBIN, Primary Examiner Dedication 3,473,694.James A. Murphy, Toronto, Cecil H. Watkins, Mimico, and Ernest James Dewhwst and Oarl Engel, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. CARTON. Patent dated Oct. 21, 1969. Dedication filed Dec. 17, 1974, by the assignee, International Paper Company.

Hereby dedicates to the Public the entire remaining term of said patent.

[Ofiicz'al Gazette April 22, 1.975.] 

